Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Gets Thumbs Up From Goldman At MWC

Goldman Sachs analysts attended the Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) or “BlackBerry” Experience Forum and Keynote presentation by Richard Piasentin, VP of US Sales, Marketing and Operations, in San Francisco on February 26 at the Mobile World Congress. The event is part of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s global tour aimed at promoting BB10 awareness and excitement, and was well attended by developers, enterprise IT personnel, and loyalists. Overall, Goldman had good things to say about BB10, in contrast to several other firms.

Goldman Sachs Analysis:

BlackBerry or Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is using the Forum series to rebrand and promote itself as more competitive and contemporary smartphone developer, blending style with productivity. BlackBerry highlighted the global reach of the BB Z10 launch, hitting Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and coming to India by the end of the week, among other regions. Consistent with recent news, the company highlighted success in Canada (the highest sell-through launch in BlackBerry history, with more than 50% of buyers switching from other platforms), the UK (over 33% of buyers from other platforms) and broadly improving consumer sentiment. In addition to the 70k applications announced at launch, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is registering almost 1k apps per day.

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) expects native support for WhatsApp by the US launch. BlackBerry is also actively training 60k retail reps and creating 25k points of presence throughout the US market ahead of the launch. Regarding the Enterprise segment, the former Mobile Fusion solution has been consolidated within BES 10 (in order to eliminate branding confusion), enabling security and control of Blackberry, Android, and iOS products on a single platform. The company demoed the IT authentication process and control of a user’s ‘work’ profile, which remains separate from the personal profile (known as Balance).

Furthermore, demos showcased the ability to launch BB services on iOS and Android via a simple application launch and authentication, which fully incorporates BB security functionality. Goldman maintains their Buy rating based on the expected positive mix shift to BB10.